The present invention relates to household refrigerators and, more particularly, to an improved door biasing mechanism for such refrigerators.
It is desirable that the operation of the doors of domestic (household) refrigerators have several somewhat incompatible characteristics. First, the user often has both hands full when he/she wants to close the door. Therefore, he/she merely shoves the door, often with an elbow or hip. This can result in the door failing to firmly close. Thus, when the door is only partially open, perhaps up to 30-40 degrees, it is advantageous that the door be biased toward its closed position. In this way door closing will be assured even though the user does not firmly close it. Second, it is desirable for the user not to have to hold the door when putting items into or taking items out of the refrigerator. Thus, it is desirable that the door be stable in one or more "fully open" positions. For example many users like for the door to stay at about 90 degrees, that is generally perpendicular to the front of the cabinet, and to be stable at another, more open, position, perhaps at about 130-140 degrees from closed or even at about 180 degrees from closed. It also is desirable that the door be easily movable between its various positions. Accomplishing the various operational characteristics of refrigerator doors is complicated and has become more so as refrigerators have become larger and the doors have been provided with deeper, and thus larger, storage shelves and bins. In the past many refrigerators used gravity to assist in accomplishing the desired operations. However, as the loads on the doors have increased, gravity enhanced movement has become too forceful. Also a number of large refrigerators are now designed to be mounted flush with the surrounding kitchen cabinets. This means that the refrigerators must be mounted with the doors vertical. They also must be mounted so their fronts will be even with the front of the cabinets. When the door is truly vertical there is no gravity assist to the door movement.